STALKER!
by Holstered .38
Summary: One of the NCIS team is under threat following a routine investigation. Can the Special Agents defy a phychopathic killer? Read and enjoy o and don't forget to review!
1. Prologue

STALKER!

Prologue

Petty Officer Nigel DeVries screwed up the anonymous letter he had received in that morning's mail. He had had many similar letters over the past few months. At first they had been considered a joke, but now it had gone beyond that. With each additional letter the comments had become more and more explicit, with this mornings reading

'_If you will not be mine, then you will be nobody's!_'

The note had been type written using a computer, so Petty Officer DeVries had no idea whom it was sending him the letters. He quickly shoved the note into the trash as he heard his wife approaching the kitchen.

"Good morning," he remarked as he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.

Amanda tilted her head toward her husband and relished in his affection. However, she sensed something was wrong. "What's the matter?" she asked simply.

"Nothing," he replied. "It's just something at work. Nothing to worry about…"

He sat at the kitchen table and ate a bowl of Fruit Loops whilst thumbing through the daily newspaper in silence. Amanda eyed him suspiciously. She could always tell when Nigel wasn't telling her the truth. He never could lie to her.

She went upstairs to shower, whilst her husband finished his breakfast and readied himself for work. The phone rang whilst she was drying off and Nigel must have answered it as it only rang a few times. By the time she returned downstairs, Nigel was ready to leave. She saw him to the front door and watched as he climbed into their blue Camero parked on the driveway. Nigel waved briefly as he opened the car door before climbing into the driving seat. He put the key into the ignition and turned it clockwise. The blast that followed blew out the windows of the house and knocked Amanda to the floor. As she scrambled to her feet she screamed for her husband and ran towards the burning wreck, only to be beaten back by the intensity of the heat. She dropped to her knees on the front lawn and cried uncontrollably, blood from numerous cuts streaking her face as the glutinous red liquid merged with her tears.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

At NCIS headquarters, Washington, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was on his second styrofoam cup of 'crude' style black coffee when his cell phone shrilled into life. "Gibbs," he answered simply. Special Agents Kate Todd and Anthony Dinozzo ceased their friendly banter over their latest trivial attempts at one-upmanship and turned their attention to their boss and his solemn tone. Snapping his cell shut, Gibbs called his team together, threw the keys of the NCIS field truck to Tony after he had outlined their latest case. "We have a Petty Officer Nigel DeVries killed in what appears to be a car bombing out at Norfolk Naval base. Kate get Ducky. McGee?" Gibbs looked over at the empty chair belonging to the latest recruit to the team. A loud thud resonated from beneath McGee's desk followed by a slightly crumpled expression as a head rose from underneath the workstation. Gibbs didn't even bother to ask - the look he gave the trainee was enough to fluster the young agent into babbling about networking cables and routing pathways, all of which was totally lost on the senior former marine. "McGee, I want you to do a detailed background check n DeVries. I want to know what this officer did and why someone would want to blow him to smithereens. Hell, if he sneezed, I want to know about it!"

"You got it boss," McGee confirmed as he began tapping away on his keyboard.

Gibbs, Dinozzo and Todd all loaded their weapons and holstered them before dashing to the forward elevator.

The area had been cordoned off around the DeVries property. A naval security team had been dispatched and were the first on the scene. It was them who had notified NCIS of the situation. Amanda was sitting on an ambulance stretcher having her superficial wounds treated by the emergency medical team on site, a regulation red blanket draped across her shoulders.

Gibbs flashed his badge and ID as he introduced himself and his team members to the senior officer at the scene.

"What have we got, Sergeant?" he asked.

"Sir, it seems that Petty Officer DeVries was heading off to work when he triggered a bomb in his car," answered Sergeant Williams.

Gibbs looked incredulously at him and replied sarcastically, "You think!" Williams, taken aback by the special agent's outburst, stepped back and let Gibbs and his team analyse the wreckage without further comment.

"Dinozzo, you photograph the scene, Kate you measure and sketch," ordered Gibbs.

"On it, boss." Kate and Tony replied in unison.

"Ducky, what can you tell me?" his question posed to their medical examiner, who was second to none in his line of work, but did tend to 'reflect' upon his insurmountable knowledge and experience regularly.

"I'm afraid there's not much left of our petty officer," Ducky's English accent conspicuous against the NCIS agent's western American drawl. "His body has suffered extensively in the incinerated wreckage and the fire department will have washed away much of the external evidence in their efforts to quell the flames. It reminds me of a case back in London. A young woman was on her way to work, taking the car she had parked in the garage. Unfortunately for her, there was a gas leak and as she switched on the ignition - Kaaboom!" Ducky's hands imitated the effects of the explosion.

Gibbs shut his eyes and shook his head. He knew Ducky's reveries were intended to help, but invariably they were just tall tales. Normally, he would have cut the medical examiner off before the story lasted too long, or because he needed answers in a hurry, but this corpse couldn't tell them anything until it was taken back to forensics and autopsy, so he let his good friend finish as he poked around the crime scene.

"This is odd," Ducky pointed out a cylindrical fragment of metal lodged into the petty officer's left thigh. Gibbs immediately approached, curious as to what Dr Mallard had found so unusual. Tony, too, photographed the point where the metal had imbedded itself in the dead sailor.

"What do you think it is, Ducky?" asked Gibbs.

"Doesn't look like part of the vehicle, boss" Tony surmised. Tony appreciated fast cars, it was a passion of his, second only to beautiful women.

"Get it sent to Abby when you get the body back to autopsy," Gibbs instructed Ducky, who simply nodded his acknowledgement. Gibbs now wanted to talk to the wife, Amanda. "Mrs DeVries, I'm Special Agent Gibbs. I'd like to talk to you about your husband and what happened this morning, if you're up to it."

"Of c-course," she stammered, the effects of the shock evident in her voice. Amanda heaved herself off the EMT's trolley and with Gibbs at her side they walked back into the house. "Can I get you a coffee?" she asked.

Gibbs accepted.

"Strong and black, I guess, like all marines?"

Gibbs smiled, was he truly so stereotypical? "Mrs DeVries,"

"Please, call me Amanda."

"Amanda, was there anything in your husband's behaviour to suggest that someone was out to harm him?"

"No, not really… I mean, he had been receiving letters, but I didn't believe them to be life threatening."

"What letters?"

"Nigel didn't think I knew about them. He tried to hide them from me, either taking them with him or destroying them in some way. But, I guess, he missed one. I was sorting through the laundry one day and found a type written letter folded in his breast pocket."

"Do you still have the letter?"

"Yes. I don't know why I kept it. I know it's silly, but I was hoping that Nigel would talk to me…"

Amanda moved to the bookcase and removed a book called 'Private Liaisons'. "It seems silly now, but at the time, I wondered if Nigel was having an affair. I know now that he wouldn't."

"What makes you so sure he wasn't?" Gibbs asked, curious to Amanda's resoluteness of her husband's fidelity.

"I know my husband, Agent Gibbs. When he wasn't at work, he would spend every minute with me. It was as if we were still on our honeymoon. He loved me…" Tears began to creep down her face. She brushed them away, but more came in their place thicker and faster.

Gibbs offered her his freshly pressed white handkerchief, which she accepted gratefully. Not wanting to distress Amanda any further, he decided to wind up the interview there and then. "If you think of anything else, don't hesitate to call me - anytime. One more thing," Gibbs turned back to Amanda before leaving. "Do you know if your husband received a letter this morning?"

"I don't know, but he was acting a bit strange when I first came downstairs," she sniffed remembering the way Nigel was as she had entered the kitchen that morning. "He had said it was work, but…" Amanda's eyes remained unfocused as she recalled the morning's events. Without a word, she moved to the trash. Resting on top of the normal household waste was a ripped up sheet of paper and corresponding envelope.

"Don't touch it!" instructed Gibbs as he snapped on a pair of white latex gloves. Carefully he retrieved the items and placed them into a transparent evidence bag, sealed the top and signed across it.

"Do you think that's from the same person who killed Nigel?" Amanda asked with some trepidation.

"We'll get it checked by our forensics, that's all I can say at the moment, but it's possible."

Kate, Tony and Gibbs joined Ducky in the autopsy room back at NCIS headquarters. "Ahh Gibbs," Ducky welcomed showing the team of investigators the x-rays highlighted against the bluish tinged back lighting. "Our victim received a tremendous force from beneath his seat. I'd say the explosive was positioned directly beneath the driver's seat deliberately to inflict the maximum impact. The force of the explosion shattered both femurs and his pelvis. If he had survived the intensity of the blast, he would never have walked again!"

"Thanks Ducky. Let me know if you find anything else." Gibbs spun on his heel and, with his entourage in tow, pressed the 'up' button on the elevator.

Abby's lab had loud music blaring. It amazed Gibbs how this talented young scientist could work under such conditions, but to Abby it was all but perfect. If she could have had her lab in a dungeon then she would have been in her element, but for a 'Goth', this was close enough.

McGee was waiting in the lab too, ready to convey all that he had learned about Nigel DeVries, his wife Amanda and the work he was involved in.

Whilst he was waiting for Gibbs, he and Abby had been bantering over an encryption programme that could possibly identify the make and model of the printer used to produce the mysterious notes sent to the dead petty officer.

"How's it going, proby?" asked Tony as he noticed McGee and Abby in a tight huddle over a laptop. "Hope we're not keeping you from _anything _with this case?" his voice emphasising his less than subtle innuendo.

"Actually Tony, you are!"

Tony could never quite tell when Abby was pulling his leg or not, but he hazarded a guess, that on this occasion, she was.

"McGee?" Gibbs boomed in an increasingly impatient manner.

"I was able to determine that the ink used on the paper came form a Hewlett Packard deskjet printer. We're still trying to ascertain the model, but are fairly sure it's an 840C. He transmitted a picture of the reconstructed note upon the large plasma screen in the lab.

Abby took over the report by highlighting a specific area. "There's a small mark in the top right corner that is repeated a number of times down the page."

"What is that?" asked Gibbs.

"That, my lovely, is a mark from the roller in the printer. As the paper feeds through the rollers, it has picked up some of the ink and voila! It's like a fingerprint…Gibbs, this printer is unique!"  
"Petty Officer DeVries had a computer in his study," Kate offered. "But the printer was an Epson."

"And according to his office," McGee continued, "they only use Cannon."

"So, whoever printed these notes couldn't have done it at either location." Tony surmised.

"Good work Abby, you too McGee!" Gibbs congratulated as he exited the lab.

Tony and Kate looked at each other and then at the smug looking duo before following Gibbs back up to their office, with McGee bringing up the rear.

"Boss," McGee called his mentor. "Nigel DeVries had served seven years as an engineer in the vehicle maintenance corps. His service record reads like a boy scout's - no cautions or disciplinary warnings. He's been stationed at Norfolk for two years. Prior to that he served at West Point, Virginia under his C.O. Colonel Steve Voight. He's been married to Amanda for four and a half years."

"There's nothing in his background to signify this sort of retribution." Kate profiled.

"Nope!" Gibbs agreed.

"Maybe, boss, this guy has been playing away and the affair led to his death, either by his spurned lover or a wife that found out he was playing away from home," suggested Tony.

"Judging by the content of the last note, I'd say that Tony has got a point," Kate agreed.

McGee didn't. "There's nothing in his background to suggest he was having an affair."

"Trust me McGee," Kate argued. "I've had profile training and I'd say this marine was having a secret affair."

At that moment, Gibbs' phone rang. He snatched the receiver out of its cradle and spoke harshly into the mouthpiece. "Gibbs." He listened in silence to whoever it was on the line before hanging up without uttering another word. His team gathered around his desk during the one-sided conversation curious as to what latest developments had arisen. "Ducky wants us in autopsy, now."

All four moved to the elevator, keen to find out what the medical examiner had discovered from the charred remains of Petty Officer DeVries.

"Ahh Jethro," greeted Ducky in his usual pleasant English demeanour that ironically contrasted the grisly surroundings of the autopsy room. "A fascinating case you've got here. As I explained earlier, our Petty Officer received an enormous explosive trauma to his lower pelvic area. The force of the detonation would have killed him instantly. Jethro, this was no accident, he was murdered!"

"Any ideas as to what caused the explosion, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"I've sent fragments and samples down to Abby for testing. It reminds me of a case I had back in my early days as a medical examiner. A college graduate had the unfortunate misfortune to…" Ducky's reverie was lost on the NCIS team, as Gibbs and his followers had already made it back to the elevator to find out what Abby had discovered from Ducky's samples.

Abby wasn't in her lab when they arrived. All the computers were whirring and buzzing as usual. The only evidence that Abby Sciuto was about were a pair of black over the knee socks rising to a pair of red NCIS overalls beneath the chassis of the burnt out Camero. Considering the situation so was grave, the picture before them appeared quite comical.

"Abby…" blared Gibbs.

"You bellowed!" retorted the lab technician.

"What have you got?" Gibbs' attitude mellowing considerably.

"Well, my silver haired fox, I have analysed the metal fragments that Ducky retrieved from the body…" Abby moved to her central computer and clicked on a graph taken from the gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer and displayed it upon the large plasma screen in her lab. The graph showed several peeks and troughs with one significantly higher than the rest. "Our bomb was mad using ammonia. The intensity of the blast was fuelled by the gas in the tank."

"Abby, do we know what the bomb was made from?" asked Tony.

"I was coming to that. I have reconstructed the metal fragments," she paused her explanation briefly as she wheeled her computer chair over to one of her workbenches, where she had all the components laid out.

"A pipe bomb?" Gibbs queried.

"Looks like it," Abby confirmed. "I also managed to lift some prints from the letters. So far, I have matched one set to Nigel DeVries from his service record and another to Amanda, his wife. There was a third partial print, but it's going to take time to match it. I've now got it running through AFIS to see if we can get a match."

"I think we need to have another word with Mrs DeVries. Tony, you and Kate head over to Norfolk and bring her in for questioning."

"On it, boss," Tony acknowledged.

"McGee, I want you to dig into his past. Someone out there had a grudge against our petty officer and I want to know who…"

"Yes boss," McGee turned tail and headed straight for the office, following Kate and Tony's departure.

"Abby," Gibbs turned to look at the eager lab tech. She looked up from the microscope where she continued with her work. "Good work," he congratulated with a cheeky smile and handed her a large 'Caf-Pow!' - her favourite!

The stark dimly lit interrogation room achieved its objective by heightening Amanda DeVries anxiety. She had been in there, alone, for nearly forty minutes. Kate and Tony were watching her through a one-way glass panel, a video recorder at the ready next to them to record the interview conducted by their superior.

Finally, Gibbs strolled in five minutes later, his demeanour businesslike and professional. Amanda stiffened; her hands frantically knitting with each other as her nervousness escalated.

"Mrs DeVries, do you know who has been sending these letters to your husband?"

"No," she insisted.

"We have taken your fingerprints from the letter we found in the trash…" Gibbs placed a copy of the reconstructed letter in front of Amanda.

"I-I don't," she stammered. Tears began to well in her eyes again and her throat tightened suffocating her words.

"How do you explain your prints on this note, then?"

"I…I knew something was up with Nigel," she sobbed. "I thought we were having financial problems and that he wasn't sharing them with me. He was the one who managed all of our money, paid the bills. I was never any good at numbers, even at school, so I just let him… When I looked in the trash this morning, there was this screwed up piece of paper resting on the top. I thought it was a threatening letter from someone demanding that his or her bill be paid; I never dreamed it would be anything like that. I saw red and ripped it up whilst Nigel was getting himself ready for work. He didn't know I knew…" her voice trailed off once more.

Gibbs stood, satisfied that Amanda was telling the truth, and returned to the observation suite.

"I believe her," stated Kate earnestly.

Just then, the door swung open and McGee burst in.

"Steady on, proby," Tony chastised.

Gibbs looked from McGee to Dinozzo and back again. "Well, what's so important that the door has to come of its hinges?"

"Sorry, boss but it's happened before!"


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Gibbs and his team stood around the main display unit in their office as McGee transferred his data up to it, explaining what he had discovered as he went. "Colonel Ryan Montgomery, aged 34, a marine for Bethesda died two years ago."

"How did he die?" Kate asked.

"He was shot at close range with a .38 - according to the file, the case is still open. No one was ever charged with is murder."

"And this is linked to this case, how?" Gibbs was becoming impatient.

"The colonel had received several of the same type of letters as Petty Officer DeVries, even down to the marks at the top corner of the page! Unfortunately," McGee continued. "It doesn't end there…I have also found two other open files on marines that fit our killer's M.O. Each of them received printed notes prior to their death."

Gibbs looked seriously at the display. It appeared that he had a serial killer on his hands. Two other photographs were displayed alongside DeVries and Montgomery; Mid-shipman Andrew Peterson served on the Enterprise and was killed in a hit and run six years ago, and Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Wood one year previous.

"Dinozzo, Kate I want a full background check done on these men. We've got find out what they all have in common. Someone is out there murdering naval personnel and marines… I want that bastard before he kills again!" Gibbs had that determined look in his eye that his team knew only too well - the killer had murdered his last victim. "McGee take Mrs DeVries home and get me a coffee when you come back!"

McGee looked up from behind his computer, a vacant expression on his face. Gibbs always brought his own coffee.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Yes boss, sorry boss."

Tony and Kate exchanged glances - they knew it was going to be a _long_ night and to cancel any plans they had for a social life.

Within the hour, McGee had returned with Gibbs' 'motor oil' and coffee for everyone else.

Gibbs took a slug from the styrofoam container and revelled in his caffeine top-up for just a few seconds before his phone shattered the moment. "Gibbs," he answered. "Okay, Abby, I'm on my way." He tossed his phone back into its cradle. "McGee, you too," he called over.

Downstairs in Abby's lab, she was poised over her computer awaiting Gibbs' arrival.

"What have you got for me, Abs?" Gibbs asked as he cruised into her lab still carrying his coffee.

She turned to him and in a very knowledgeable way said, "I was running a mock-up, on my computer, of the bomb blast and something struck me as 'hinky'." She paused for effect, but the only effect it had was to make Gibbs impatient. "This simulation together with the evidence in the car…"

"Abby!" Gibbs snapped.

"It was made to look like an amateur bomb, but whoever made this knew exactly what they were doing. In fact, there was something else, the bomb had to have been triggered by our petty officer!"

"WHAT?"

"There was no evidence of a timer or remote detonation switch. The bomb exploded when Nigel DeVries turned the ignition and created a circuit - KABOOM!"

Amanda DeVries sat across her kitchen table from Susie Jakes, her friend and neighbour. "It was awful, Susie. They think I killed Nigel," Amanda sobbed.

"How can they think that?" she replied sympathetically.

"I-I don't understand."

"Who was the investigating officer?"

"A Special Agent Gibbs, from NCIS."

"It's over now. Here, I'll make us some tea," Susie offered switching the kettle on, as she secretly planned her next victim's fate.

Getting the mugs out of the cupboard, she put a little something extra in Amanda's.

Back at NCIS headquarters, Gibbs was bashing away at his keyboard to little effect. His computer had frozen on him, and not being very technically minded, took his frustrations out on the plastic and technology in front of him. "McGee!" he bellowed. "Reboot this or something…"

"Okay boss, but I…" his voice faded away as Gibbs stared in his direction daring him to say another word. He didn't.

"Dinozzo, gas the car." Gibbs tossed the keys to his longest serving team member, of two years. "Kate, you're with us too."

The elevator pinged and it's doors opened. A tall woman in a naval commanders uniform and carrying a manila file stepped out as Gibbs and Kate entered. Neither took any notice of the other.

"Excuse me," the commander stopped a thirty-something brunette carrying an armful of files and folders from one desk to another. "I have some urgent documents for a Special Agent Gibbs. Could you point him out for me, please?"

"Yes mam," the woman answered obligingly, turning to face Gibbs' office. "Uh, erm… he doesn't appear to be in his office at the moment, but that's his desk right there," she pointed to where Gibbs usually sat.

"Thank you, Agent…Farrell," she responded pleasantly reading the ID clipped to the woman's lapel. The commander was almost at Gibbs' desk when a head popped up from beneath it, startling her. "Oh my god!"

"Sorry," McGee apologised.

He was not the kind of person that Susie had expected, nor was he unhandsome, but he was young.

"Can I help you, Commander?" McGee asked realising that she had not moved, as he ceased tapping away on Gibbs' keyboard.

Thrown slightly off-guard, Susie responded "Erm, I have some urgent documents for Agent Farrell."

McGee looked around and saw Agent Farrell in the adjacent office. "That's her over there, with the long dark hair carrying the files."

"Thanks for your help." Susie didn't bother stopping to talk with Agent Farrell again. In fact, she wanted to get out of that office as soon as possible. She had not intended to meet her next victim, only to get some background information on him.

Gibbs had no qualms about exceeding the speed limit and today was no exception. Kate sat in the back behind Tony, both of whom were hanging on to the handgrips tightly as they endeavoured to prevent themselves from being thrown around the vehicle. Gibbs pulled up in front of the DeVries household and launched himself out of the drivers' door leaving Kate and Tony still unclipping their safety belts. By the time they were out of the car, Gibbs had already made it to the front porch and was knocking on the door. No one answered. Gibbs drew his weapon, Kate and Dinozzo followed suit, as they caught up to their boss.

"Dinozzo, cover the back," Gibbs indicated in a muted instruction.

The team waited a few moments for Tony to position himself, before Gibbs knocked again. Still no reply. Gibbs reached forward with his left hand to turn the doorknob, his right still aiming his gun at any possible enemy within. Gibbs and Kate entered the property checking each room as they went.

"Clear!" Kate called as she checked the lounge, then the kitchen.

Gibbs cleared the dining room and the first bedroom; but as he reached the bathroom he found Amanda - dead.

Ducky and Jimmy Palmer, the ME's assistant, arrived within twenty minutes of Gibbs' initial call. They pulled up behind McGee who had driven the NCIS crime scene investigation truck. Yellow crime scene tape remained around the property from the previous incident. To Ducky, the whole business seemed such a waste. To lose one life was tragic, to lose a second was criminal. The medical examiner shook his head in dismay as he entered the house.

The bathroom had been photographed and the details recorded before Ducky began his preliminary report. Firstly, he noticed the slashes across Amanda's wrists. Each heavily cut in a diagonal direction, blood pooling around the corpse. The doctor removed his scalpel and made a small incision near the liver, before inserting the probe of his thermometer to determine time of death.

"Jethro," Gibbs turned toward Ducky awaiting his assessment of the body. "I'd say she's been dead about an hour, two at most. But look at these wounds - they were not self inflicted…"

"How can you tell?" Kate asked, fascinated.

"Imagine you are about to end it all by slitting your wrists, here pretend this marker is a knife."

Kate took the pen and simulated the actions of a suicide. The marks on her wrists were diagonal, but in opposite directions. "One goes from left to right, the other right to left!" she exclaimed.

"Exactly! Now look at this poor girl's…"

"They are both cut from right to left!"

"We're looking for a murderer, Duck." Gibbs concluded. Ducky nodded.

Back at NCIS, Ducky continued his autopsy. "Why didn't you fight back, my dear?" he asked his lifeless patient. "You will tell me what you know, you always do…"

Jimmy Palmer watched his mentor with a mix of admiration and scepticism. Dr Mallard could often be described as eccentric, but was exceedingly proficient at his job, being one of the best in his field.

A couple of hours passed. Ducky had sent Jimmy off to Abby's lab with a series of samples to be tested for explosive residue and toxicology, and he was now awaiting the results, although he was reasonably certain what they would say. He called upstairs and asked Gibbs to join him.

"What's up Duck?" If you had given Gibbs long ears, a cottontail, a carrot and a sense of humour, he could have passed for a well-known cartoon character. As it was, none of the above applied and Gibbs was deadly serious.

"Our petty officer's wife was definitely murdered. You see the cuts on her wrists are consistent with someone standing to her left and slashing from right to left. Ducky demonstrated holding a scalpel a couple of centimetres from Amanda's skin.

"Why are there no defensive wounds?"

"I was just getting to that. She must have been unconscious when the deadly act took place, but I could find no physical evidence to support that theory."

"If she was unconscious, the killer would have had to drag her through the house, but we found no evidence of drag marks or deep impressions in the carpet pile where she might have been carried."

"There is another alternative…"

"She was either drugged and made her own way to the bathroom willingly, or…" "She was forced against her will."

Just then the telephone rang on the main desk in autopsy. Ducky answered it by pressing the speakerphone button, thus enabling Gibbs to hear the whole conversation. It was Abby.

"Hi Ducky!" Abby greeted. "I've completed my tests on the samples you sent up. Now there's good news and bad news - which do you want first?"

"Abby!" Gibbs snapped, not wanting to waste time playing games.

"Hey Gibbs!" Abby addressed. "Come on, it's no fun if I don't let you wonder at my expertise," she teased. Silence filled the mortuary as both doctor and investigator waited for her findings. "Gibbs? Ducky?" Abby called, not sure if her call had been disconnected.

"Well?" Gibbs queried.

"Amanda DeVries tested negative for explosive residue, but when doing her bloodwork something 'hinky' showed up…" She paused for effect before announcing "I found traces of Rohypnol."

"The date-rape drug?" Gibbs asked.

"Yup! The knife, however, had no prints on it, but it was definately the murder weapon."

"Thanks Abs, good work," and with that Gibbs hung up. "What do you make of that Ducky?"

"It would certainly account for the lack of struggle. She'd have been powerless against the suggestive nature of the drug. Jethro, whoever administered that drug, killed Amanda DeVries!"

Next morning, Gibbs was the first to arrive. As he emerged from the elevator he took a gulp from the carton of coffee he had purchased on his way in. The strong bitter black liquid giving the special agent's mental prowess that extra kick-start after a long night where he had worked lovingly upon the sailing boat he was building in his basement. When he reached his desk, he noted that the internal mail delivery system had been around before the 5am that now displayed on his wristwatch. Of the three envelopes that lay unopened on his desk, he suspected he would have to file all of them in his regular 'bureaucratic bull-shit' file along with the half-eaten Chinese from the previous evenings' overtime.

He was nearly right. The first was an internal memo from the bean counters at head office, reminding all heads of departments about filing legitimate receipts for expenses; the second an addition to the NCIS most wanted board - a SEAL who'd been redistributing arms and armoury on the black market. Lastly, a letter - a single sheet of computer printed-paper with the same distinctive ink marks in the top right hand corner and along the right hand edge. It was the same as the ones received by Petty Officer DeVries! Gibbs put the letter down and snapped on a pair of Latex gloves from this top drawer. Now he could examine the letter more closely before placing both it and its corresponding envelope in separate evidence bags. The letter read:

_'I know you spent last night alone, but I could always_

_stop by to keep you company…'_

Abby wouldn't be in for another hour, so Gibbs tried to focus his attention on some other aspect of the case. However, his mind often wandered back to the letter.

Abby got in about ten to six, and before she even had time to put on her lab coat, Gibbs was snapping at her heels to see what she could gain from this latest letter.

"Good morning to you to, Gibbs" Abby intoned sarcastically as her colleague departed through the automatic doors. "First, some music to work by…" Abby sat on her wheeled chair and pushed off toward the stereo mounted upon a chiller unit. An unearthly sound of shrieking and the heavy boom-boom-boom of bass reverberated around the clinical environment. Abby smiled contentedly. "Ahh, that's better. Now… to work."

Dressed in her whit lab coat and a pair of latex gloves, Abby carefully cut the seal on the evidence bags containing the letter and envelope with a scalpel. She then proceeded to place the two items in a glass box and sealed the front. She dripped a few drops of superglue into the heated intake tube and waited as the box clouded over with a gaseous shroud. As the chamber cleared, Abby first removed the envelope. Looking through amber coloured safety goggles, she turned on the alternative light source (ALS) unit. She lifted two prints and a partial palm print, which turned out to belong to Gibbs and Marvin, the mailman. The letter on the other hand, proved to be more forthcoming. Abby lifted a print form the reverse of the letter belonging to neither of the two previous candidates known to have handled the letter. She scanned the latent print into her computer and began comparing it to the naval fingerprint database and AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). All she could do now, was wait. There was no DNA available on the envelope as it was the 'self-seal' variety, but she did notice a yellow powder stuck to the gummed flap. Now it was a case of identifying the substance. That would be her next challenge.

Gibbs rang down for a progress report on his letter. "What have you got for me, Abs?"

"Gibbs, I know I'm good, but you've still got to wait for the computer to do its thing. There were no relevant fingerprints on the envelope, nor did it contain any human DNA…"

"Are you telling me you've come up with nothing?"

"No, the good news is I have a print running through AFIS now, from the letter, but no hits as yet. There is something else, though. You know I said there was no human DNA on the envelope?"

"Get to the point, Abby."

"I am, I am. Well the envelope had pollen stuck along the glued edge. Our stalker has been in contact with a plant or flower. I'm processing the plant DNA now and should have a result within 24 hours."

"Good work. Let me know when you have the results and maybe we can pin down this dirt bag."

Dinozzo and Kate arrived in the office at the same time. Tony was in the throws of describing his previous night's encounters with a curvaceous twenty year old blond called Natalie. He was divulging more information than Kate actually wanted or desired.

"Tony, do you see every woman on this planet as a prospective conquest?"

"No, no not every woman. I haven't tried to hit on you yet!"

Kate looked severely at her colleague, not amused by his chauvinistic comment.

Unbeknownst to the pair of them, Gibbs had heard every word. "That's because he knows the consequences."

"That NCIS agents are not permitted relationships with colleagues they work with?" Kate queried.

"No, that you'd eat him for breakfast!" Gibbs' response caused Kate to smirk and Tony's face to fall. "Now, are we going to get _any_ work done today?"

"Yes, boss" they chorused.

"And where's McGee?"

"Don't know, boss" Tony admitted.

"In the crime scene evidence at the killing of Amanda DeVries, did either of you find any evidence of Rohypnol?"

At that moment, the elevator pinged its arrival. The doors opened to reveal a very flustered McGee. He launched himself into the office, almost knocking a couple of fellow officers over in his haste, babbled his apologies and practically ran to his desk.

Gibbs stared at the young agent. "Do you _like_ working here, McGee?"

"Sorry I'm late, boss. I had to pick something up for…"

"MCGEE!" Gibbs snapped.

"Won't happen again, boss" he apologised, again.

Gibbs turned his attention back to his earlier question and the other field agents of his team. Both Kate and Tony looked, just for a second, like rabbits caught in the headlights of an oncoming eighteen wheeler.

"There was no obvious sign of Rohypnol, boss" Tony answered.

"It was probably in something she ate or drank," Kate added.

"You think! Then you two go back to the house and bag and tag anything that might contain that drug. Oh, and don't forget to check the 'U' bend in the sink. If our killer is as clever as they think they are, they probably tipped the evidence down the drain."

"McGee, I want to know what all of these naval officers have in common. There has got to be some common factor, we're just not seeing it." Gibbs stared at the plasma screen showing the four naval personnel all of whom had died unnecessarily at the hands of another.

A bouquet of flowers arrived for Gibbs delivered by a young girl of no more that nineteen. She wore a skimpy pink halterneck and a skirt that barely covered her ass. The security officer, who had accompanied the gum chewing girl, wore a wide grin like a child who had had everything they wanted for Christmas.

"Are you Special Agent Gibbs?" the girl asked with a heavy mid-west accent.

"Yup."

"Then these are for you. Sign here," she indicated a space on her clipboard.

Gibbs signed, took a pair of Latex gloves from his drawer and took out the accompanying card.

_' Saw you again this morning. '_

"Hey man, what gives?" the girl asked, watching the strange reaction to a very beautiful bouquet, as Gibbs plunged them into the trash.

"Who sent the flowers?" Gibbs demanded.

"Huh?"

Gibbs repeated his question raising his voice and losing his patience.

The girl, taken aback by the aggressive nature of Gibbs' question, checked her clipboard. There were no details listed under the sender. "Must be a 'secret admirer'. Looks like they paid cash," she explained. "There's no credit card or cheque detail on the order."

"That means whoever sent this visited the shop, right?" The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Do you have CCTV?"

"I don't know."

"What's the name of the florist?"

"Jake's Flowers, on 51st Street."

Gibbs grabbed his ID and weapon from his top drawer and escorted the delivery girl and the slightly disgruntled security officer to the ground floor, then proceeded down to the garage.

The wheels of the midnight blue Dodge Stratus squealed loudly as the Special Agent lay down a thick layer of rubber on the concrete parking bay floor. His next battle would be with the mid-morning traffic.

Abby took a large drag on the straw leading into her 'Caf-Pow!', the caffeine boost refreshing her eyes as she watched finger prints flicker past across her monitor. With nothing to do but wait for results, Abby decided to go up to the 3rd floor to see if she'd be more use up there.

"Hey McGee, where is everyone?"

"Hi Abby," his face flushed. He had a serious soft spot for the straight talking Goth lab technician.

"Wow," she exclaimed as she noticed the large bunch of flowers in Gibbs' trash. "Who'd send flowers to Gibbs?" It was a rhetorical question.

"Erm, I don't know," McGee's concentration locked on his computer screen.

"Do you need a hand?" Abby offered looking over his shoulder, her hands resting on his head.

"Yeah," he replied, relieved. So far he'd hit dead ends. Maybe, with Abby's help, they could find the missing link.

McGee took his laptop down to Abby's lab so she could monitor her tests as they worked.

"Kate and Tony had pulled the case files on the murders of Montgomery, Peterson and Wood, but as yet we've not been able to find a common thread to link all four cases," McGee explained.

Abby leafed through one of the folders and compared the information to the others.

"Both Montgomery and Wood served in Iraq in '98, but not in the same unit. DeVries went to college in Boston, Peterson went to UCLA."

Time passed slowly.

"This makes no sense, there doesn't appear to be anything that links any of these men apart from the fact they are all in the navy." Abby deduced.

McGee looked up. 'It couldn't be that simple, surely?' he thought. "Abby - you're brilliant!" He bobbed up out of his chair, placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her on the forehead.

She grinned back at him, not really sure what she had done, but pleased with herself anyway.

McGee went back to his machine and typed in a search against any unsolved naval and marine deaths. He got over two hundred hits. He then narrowed his search to male victims receiving mysterious letters prior to their demise, that returned only twenty-seven, three of which were Montgomery, Wood and Peterson. That left twenty-four, twelve each.

One-by-one, McGee and Abby worked through the case notes of each murder victim, eliminating those that didn't fit the profile of their stalkers M.O. Only five remained, each of whom had suffered a similar fate to the that of Nigel DeVries, a succession of explicit notes concluding in their death.

"According to this, our stalker has been committing murder for nearly ten years and getting away with it," McGee exclaimed.

"Yes," Abby agreed with dismay. "And I think I know who the next target is…"

McGee looked on, his mouth open in shock.

The floristry business must have been quite slack that morning as the shop assistant sat behind the counter casually thumbing her way through a celebrity gossip magazine. The name tag attached to the blue sports shirt, with Jakes Flowers embroidered in the top left corner, read Dawn. Gibbs flashed his badge and ID across the counter.

"What's N-C-I-S?" Dawn asked.

"Naval Criminal Investigation Service. Is the owner about?"

"Nope, out of town on business. Say, what does the navy want with a florist?"

Gibbs ignored her question. "Do you have CCTV?"

"You're kidding right? What's a thief going to do, steal our carnations?"

Gibbs smirked, finding her humour amusing. "You sent some flowers to the NCIS office this morning, do you have a record of who sent them?"

"Name?"

"Gibbs."

"No, the name of the recipient!" Gibbs just looked at her. "Ohh, you…"

He waited whilst she checked her records.

"There's no record of any flowers being sent to either you, or NCIS." Dawn responded.

"How can that be?"

"Are you sure they came from this florist?"

Gibbs didn't bother to deign her query with an answer, he just left the shop assistant looking on utterly confused by the whole conversation.

What Gibbs needed now, was a coffee.

McGee and Abby paced frantically back and forth about the office. "Try his cell again," Abby suggested.

"I have, several times. Gibbs must have turned it off."

"Turned what off?" Gibbs asked as he entered the office from the rear elevator.

"Why do you have a cell phone if you don't have it turned on?" Abby chastised, half furious and half relieved to see her boss.

"What's up, Abs?"

"Boss, although we haven't actually found a common link between our victims yet…" McGee began.

"We believe we have found another five cases where our stalker has killed marine or naval personnel." Abby finished. "And we think…" she paused, not sure how to say the next bit. "We think that _you_ are the next target!"

Gibbs smiled to himself and sat at his desk. "After three ex-wives, a murderer should be a piece of cake!"

"Gibbs, this is serious…" Abby scorned.

"Boss, we want you to know that…well that we're here, if you need us." McGee volunteered.

"Thanks McGee, Abby." Gibbs knew they were sincere, and his features softened momentarily before his hard-core marine training took over. "Any news on those test results?"

Abby checked her watch. "They should be done around about - now." Her lab coat twirled in the air as she turned on her heel and pressed the down button on the elevator.

Kate and Tony were waiting in the lab when Abby returned. They were carrying a large white evidence box packed with jars of liquid and bags of food that they had bagged and tagged from the DeVries household. Abby signed for them to maintain the chain of evidence.

"Abby," Tony began. "We need you test these for Rohypnol, please?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

As Kate and Tony were about to leave, Abby called them back. She knew Gibbs wasn't going to like it, but she had to tell them her suspicions about the letters.

On their return to the office, Kate confronted Gibbs. "Why did you go out alone, if you suspected you were our stalker's next target?"

"The letters haven't threatened anything yet."

"Well, until this psycho is caught, you don't go anywhere without one of us." For an instant she forgot to whom she was talking.

Gibbs stared at her. "Geez, it's like being married all over again!"

"Except, I don't get an alimony cheque at the end of it!" Kate retorted with a smile.

Gibbs laughed and picked up his phone to dial down to the lab.

Tony and McGee stood around Kate's desk, as she outlined the security measures and bodyguard rotas they'd each undertake.

Gibbs switched the communications to video feed and spoke to Abby using the large plasma screen. "What have you got for me, Abs?"

"You mean besides half the supermarket Kate and Tony have just brought me? Okay, the pollen came from a _'Phaelenopsis amabalis'._"

"A what?"

"It's a moth orchid and not indigenous to this country."

Gibbs cursed himself. He knew there was something odd at the florists when he had visited earlier, he just didn't comprehend its significance. "Kate, you're with me."

She grabbed her weapon and jacket and caught up with Gibbs. "Where are we going?"

"The florist," he answered.

"You're buying flowers?"

Gibbs looked at her, disbelievingly. "Do I look like I need to buy flowers?"

Kate wasn't sure of the answer she should give, so she decided to say nothing at all.

When they arrived at Jakes Florist, it was shut. Frustrated by the turn of events, Gibbs banged his fist against the glass door.

"Nothing we can do now, we don't have enough for a warrant."

Gibbs had to agree, no matter how much he didn't like it and returned to NCIS.

On their return, the security officer on the door stopped them as they were about to swipe their security passes through the staff entrance. "Excuse me, Sir," the guard called. "Commander Jackson left this for you at the front entrance. She said I was to hand it to you personally."

Gibbs took the envelope, it was identical to the one he had received earlier. He opened a plastic evidence bag and he and Kate took it directly to Abby.

Abby placed the envelope inside a sealed perspex container and handled it through the rubber gloves fitted on one side. Gingerly, she opened the envelope and removed the letter. A tiny capped explosion sent glitter and smoke throughout the box. Everyone jumped, especially Abby who pulled her hands back quicker than a striking viper.

"Abby, are you alright?" Kate asked concerned.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Oh my god Gibbs, who have you pissed off this time?"

"Difficult to say…" his sarcasm covering his very real concerns.

As the smoke and glitter cleared, Abby returned to the letter to read its contents. It was definitely from the same machine as the other notes because of the ink pattern down the right side.

_'You don't make it easy, do you?_

_I saw you with 'her' today. Her with her long dark hair._

_I didn't think that you'd go for that sort of woman._

_Next time, glitter might not be all I send…'_

"Abby, I want this bitch!" Gibbs shouted as he left her lab leaving the two women in his wake.

"Tony," Gibbs called over. "Find out every thing you can on this Commander Jackson."

Tony looked over the top of his monitor. "Who is he, boss?"

"It's a 'she', and that's what I want you to find out!" he retorted.

"On it, boss."

"McGee, have you found anything linking our dead sailors?"

"I did find something, though I'm not really sure it's relevant."

"Right now, I'm willing to accept a statement from Santa Claus!"

"Well, all of our victims have spent some time at Bethesda Naval Hospital. DeVries had an appendectomy there eight months ago; Wood fractured his wrist; Peterson needed stitches after an accident in the field; and Montgomery worked there in the medical records department."

"That's how our killer found her targets."

"Boss," Tony interrupted. "There's no record of a Commander Jackson in the navy."

"I want a copy of the security tape from this afternoon. I want to put a face to this scumbag!"

Gibbs, Tony and Kate watched the security tape as it played back on the large monitor in the office.

McGee accessed the footage from his computer and fast forwarded the tape to the section time coded at 1527 hours when he played it at normal speed.

"Our Commander," Kate began.

"She's _not _a Commander," Tony corrected.

"Okay, the woman who delivered the letter for Gibbs, arrived at around 1545 hours according to the security officer who received it."

The team watched officers and NCIS personnel go back and forth in front of the camera.

"Hold it," Gibbs barked. "Back it up a bit."

McGee complied. A woman in navy dress entered the shot. She kept her head down, her cover shielding the majority of her face from the digital eye.

"That's her!" Gibbs' gut and instinct knew it. The time code read 1548 hours. "McGee, can you enhance that at all and make her face any clearer?"

"I can adapt the transfiguration resource software to compensate for the deminished pixel configuration…"

"McGee! I didn't _ask_ you if you could."

"Oh no, sorry boss," his head bowed and his fingers were rapidly striking the keys on the keyboard. The more he tapped away the clearer the image became. A separate window came up alongside the original tape showing the slowly rotating features of a dark-haired slender faced woman created in a computer generated format. "That's our Commander Jackson!"

"She's _not_ a Commander," Tony repeated.

McGee stared at the image. He had seen that face before, but couldn't remember where. He hoped he would recall before the killer had a chance to strike again.

It was late. Kate and Tony had left for the night, they could do no more until they had the identity of the mysterious commander. Tony had another date with Natalie, you could almost say it was serious. After all, two dates for Tony was serious! Kate was with Gibbs. It was her shift for protection duty, until 0600 hours tomorrow. She was the most experienced in protection detail, having been assigned to protect the President of the United States when she worked in the Secret Service. Gibbs wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he'd been ordered by Director Morrow to co-operate. He'd decided to go down to his basement and continue to work on the sailing boat he was lovingly hand crafting, whilst Kate remained upstairs. The boat had been his lifeline after three messy divorces, one of which landed him in hospital with a fractured skull after his second wife drove a seven iron into his head. His boat helped him to think clearly. It never moaned when he wasn't there; it never required anything more than the sensitive touch of his hand tools; and it _never_ demanded alimony cheques!

Only McGee remained behind at the office. He knew Abby was still downstairs testing all the material Kate and Tony had brought in from the DeVries house, so he decided he'd keep her company whilst he continued to work on his laptop.

Abby was syringing small amounts of liquid into testing vials when McGee entered the cacophony of sound that he recognised as one of her favourite bands.

"Hey McGee," she shouted before turning her music down, slightly. "I didn't realise you were still here."

"It was too quiet upstairs," he teased.

Abby smiled, and returned her attention back to her work.

By 3am, McGee had fallen asleep hunched over at the desk where he sat and Abby had done all that she could. Now it was down to technology to determine the evidence - scientifically. Abby unfurled a mattress she kept rolled up under one of her desks for situations such as these and settled down to get some rest.

Up on level three, a lone figure sat at Gibbs' desk, and it wasn't Gibbs. Susie sat there of ages, just letting the whole environment sink in. The longer she sat, the angrier she felt and after almost two hours she had reached her climactic conclusion. Without her computer or printer, she had to hand print her final note.

_'So you spent another night with her. You obviously don't respect_

_or care for my feelings at all. I have watched you visit the gym,_

_buy your groceries from the store and I've seen you typing away at that_

_vintage typewriter of yours, yet you have barley acknowledged me._

_Perhaps if I dyed my hair black and wore it up in bunches, and dressed_

_like an extra from a vampire movie you'd have noticed me._

_But it's too late fore that now. Now, you have to pay the price -_

_both of you!'_

Susie pushed the wheeled computer chair backward and made her way to the rear stairwell.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gibbs' awoke with a start. A sound on his basement stairs had disturbed his slumber. He stretched his neck from side to side and tried to massage to the stiffness that had built up where he had fallen asleep sat on his workbench with his head tilted against the box shelving containing bottles of paintstripper, thinners and a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels.

The noise that had awoken him so abruptly was Kate coming down the basement stairs, her heels clicking loudly as each one made contact with a different step. She carried two cups of steaming freshly made coffee. Black for him, and white for her. Gibbs gratefully accepted the cup and gulped down half the scalding liquid with satisfaction. Only then did he realise what had been troubling him. His 'gut' had never failed him in the past and Gibbs had learned to trust it's deductive powers. What it was telling him now made him slam his coffee down, snatch up his jacket, keys and cell and dash for the door leaving a bewildered Kate in his wake.

"Gibbs? I didn't think my coffee was as bad as all that," she grimaced to herself sniffing at her own cup of java, not daring to sample the heady liquid.

"C'mon Kate," Gibbs barked. "It's not me this psycho's after, it's McGee!"

"Oh my god…"

Gibbs gunned the accelerator as he sped away from his home. Kate was holding on frantically to the hand hold above the door with one hand as she attempted to dial McGee's apartment with her other. "No answer."

"Try his cell."

Again Kate tried to dial as she was violently buffeted around in her seat as Gibbs took one of his notorious short cuts. McGee's cell rang four times before someone turned it off. "I think he's in trouble," Kate said as she relayed what had happened.

Gibbs drew out his own phone and pressed a number he had pre-programmed into his speed dial. "I need a GPS location on a cell phone. The number is 0771 555 8326. I need the exact position of that phone's last incoming call," he checked his watch, "two minutes ago." Gibbs waited whilst whoever was on the other end tried to back trace its location. Gibbs obviously got an answer because he snapped his cell shut and violently swung the vehicle 180 degrees. They were no longer heading for McGee's apartment, but toward the NCIS office.

The lab was relatively quiet when Susie approached from the stark concrete stairs. Only the feint hum, whirr or click form the various pieces of machinery broke the silence that was normally out of place down there. She could see her target clearly, slumped over the desk where he had been working. The lab tech, however, appeared to have left for the night.

Silently, Susie approached behind 'Gibbs' and drew his weapon swiftly from it's holster on his belt. McGee woke with a start only to find himself staring down the barrel of his own weapon.

"I see that you found me," Susie smiled indicating the fingerprint identification. The computer had completed its scan of the AFIS database, and returned a positive match - Susan Jakes, a former naval nurse at Bethesda Naval Hospital. "You were not quite what I expected. For a Special Agent in charge of an investigation, I expected someone older." McGee suddenly understood - she thought he was Gibbs!

In the other room, Abby stirred, surprised by the amount of talking going on in her lab. As she sat up, however, she saw McGee looking down his own gun barrel held inches from his forehead by the woman in the security video. Abby hid beneath one of the tables in the room, she had to get help, but she had to do it without alerting McGee's captor. Peeking over the edge of the table, Abby reached up and pulled the phone toward her. Quickly, she dialled Gibbs' cell. He answered after the first ring.

"Gibbs, listen," Abby whispered. "I may not have long. The woman who has been stalking you is in my lab, pointing a gun at McGee's head. I don't think…" Abby's voice trailed off to silence as she felt the cold bluing of McGee's side arm against the side of her neck.

"Abby…ABS?" Gibbs' heart raced as he worried what was happening to his friends. "We're coming to get you!" he called down the dead phone line.

"Kate, get Tony and call the HMT's. We've got a hostage situation in the lab."

"Abby?"

"And McGee…" Gibbs gunned the accelerator once more. He had to get there, before he had to investigate another murder, or worse, two.

Gibbs skidded the Dodge sedan to a halt and raced up to his office. Tony was already there and had a live feed from the lab displayed upon the plasma screen.

McGee had a bruised and bloodied forehead where he had received a sharp blow from the butt of his gun when Susie had noticed the movement in the side room.

"I had planned to put this little device on you, Special Agent Gibbs, but now that your 'girlfriend' has shown up, I think it would be more fitting that she wear it." Susie opened her briefcase and withdrew a vest packed with C4 that had numerous wires trailing from it. "Put it on!" Susie demanded thrusting the vest at the scared technician.

"Don't Abs," McGee pleaded. A shot discharged from his gun, the bullet entered McGee's left thigh and he dropped to the floor, his face contorting in agony; blood rapidly oozing through his pants. He unstrapped his belt and applied a tourniquet to his wound.

"Put it on, or I'll put another bullet in your boss."

"He's not my boss," Abby grumbled through gritted teeth taking the vest and putting it on over her lab coat.

"Turn around," Susie instructed. She attached the wires to a box around the zipper. "It's an anti-tamper device; you try to remove it and it's bye bye for you and anyone within a twenty foot radius!"

Upstairs, Gibbs, Kate and Tony could only watch in horror as the terrifying scene unfolded.

"What are we going to do, boss?" Tony asked.

"Tony, I want you down there outside the lab. Take the stairs, I don't want to spook this bitch. Kate, get a hold of EOD, I want someone to get that jacket off of Abby without blowing her to bits!"

"You got it." Kate acknowledged.

Gibbs picked up his phone and dialled the lab. It rang five times before it was answered by Abby on the speaker phone, her laptop stood directly beside her.

"Forensics."

"Hey Abby, its Jethro."

"Oh, hi Jethro. What can I do for you?" Her voice sounded a little strange, even to her.

"I was wondering if you had the test results back from Special Agent Fornell's bombing victim, he's been giving me a headache over the results, so I was hoping I could come down and sign for them."

"Erm…no, they're not ready yet. I've had some problems with one of my machines. I'm waiting for a service tech to check it out. I'll let you know when they're ready," Abby replied.

"Thanks." Gibbs hung up. "Alright, if Abby got my message okay, then she is going to keep us informed from now on. McGee is alright, but is going to need medical assistance soon."

"He looks like he's lost a lot of blood," Kate remarked, gloomily.

Gibbs kept his eye on the screen. Even though Abby was scared, unarmed and shut in a room with a bomb around her chest and a gun wielding psychopath taking pot shots at McGee, he knew she would indicate to them any information she could using sign language.

Abby was prone to exaggerating her audible voice with her hands, but tonight she had to rely on them to give Gibbs all the detail she could about their situation, and all without getting caught!

"That's good Abs. What else…" Gibbs whispered to himself as Abby subtly signed that McGee had been shot once in the leg; the bomb she was wearing was trigger detonated and that Susie Jakes was there alone. It was at that point, Susie noticed Abby's movements. She raised her gun to fire at McGee again. Abby dove at their captor, a bullet fired and hit one of the labs computers sending electrical sparks fizzing into the air. The gun bounced across the floor, sliding under one of the tables. McGee dragged himself toward it in an effort to regain control of the situation.

Gibbs had seen everything and was now bounding his way downstairs and instructing Tony to 'move in' over the headset they each wore.

McGee reached his weapon just as Tony entered the lab, Gibbs only a second behind them both.

Susie grabbed Abby's hair and attempted to use her as a shield against the three armed agents barring her escape. With her free hand she drew out a small black box with a single switch. It was the remote to activate the bomb!

"Why'd you do it, Susie?" Gibbs asked.

"I was working my way up the food chain," Susie answered with a smirk. "Each one came into my hospital and flashed their charm, but as soon as they were well again they left without so much as a second look. When I left the navy and opened the flower store, they would come in and buy flowers and bouquets for their wives and girlfriends - they didn't even recognise me…"

"So, you'd kill them?"

"They'll remember me now!"

"Put the remote down and you and I can talk about this," Gibbs offered.

"I'll only talk to Gibbs," Susie indicated McGee, who was still laying on the floor, his face pale and clammy.

"He's in no condition to talk right now, and besides, I'm Special Agent Gibbs." He tossed his ID over to Susie so she could check it.

"You're Gibbs? I should have guessed," she chastised herself. "So who's…?"

"Special Agent McGee."

Susie laughed derisively. "That doesn't change anything though does it? I'm dead if I do and I'm dead if I don't, so…" Susie raised her thumb to depress the button on the remote.

Shots fired simultaneously from all three guns.

Ambulances, EOD vehicles and NCIS agents swarmed around the Washington building.

McGee was stretchered away wearing an oxygen mask and an intraveinous saline drip. A second body was being zipped into a black bodybag by Ducky's assistant Jimmy Palmer.

"I'm sorry Jethro," the ME patted his friend on the shoulder and escorted the body down to autopsy.

Tony sat on the floor, his legs folded up to his chest and his head resting on his knees. "I'm sorry boss…We all thought this loony was after you."

"It's okay, Tony." Gibbs' tone unusually soft. "Even Susie Jakes thought she was after me. McGee and Abby were just in the wrong place at the wrong time…"

"What about McGee?"

"He'll be fine, it was a through and through."

The lab doors opened and a disgruntled Abby walked in. "Look at this place! It will take me months to get some of this equipment replaced."

Gibbs smiled. He was just happy to have Abby back in one piece. He signed a silent greeting to her.

"Ahh, that's so sweet," she replied as she signed back.

Gibbs signed again and she frowned. "Did he now?"

"What did you just say to her, boss?" Tony asked.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to shoot you!"

Kate was next through the sliding doors. She was carrying a computer print out of Susie Jakes history. "She worked as a nurse at Bethesda Naval Hospital from '92. She was dishonourably discharged in 2003 following a series of sexual harassment claims, from male patients, were made against her and upheld. She disappeared for about 6 months, then returned to Washington and opened 'Jakes Florist'." Kate read from the report.

"Ooo, creepy," Abby shuddered. "How did she get in?"

"Yeah," Tony interjected. "We all saw her leave on the security tape…"

"Whilst we were all watching the footage from the main front entrance, she snuck in around the side, conning a young lieutenant into holding the door for her so her security pass wouldn't show up on the system."

"Smart," Tony admitted.

"She must have hid out in one of the offices until everyone had gone," Kate surmised.

"How could she be sure that Gibbs, I mean McGee, would stay late at work today?" Abby asked.

"Because he doesn't have a social life!" Tony smirked.

"No Dinozzo, it's so he could get some work done without any juvenile interruptions!"

Tony's face fell as he contemplated Gibbs' comment.

The End

by

**Holstered .38**


End file.
